The ongoing year has been tough for many tech companies in terms of their user regulatory policies. They had to present themselves before Congress and answer their questions based on policies and their alleged role in breaching laws and damaging society.
A survey was conducted last month by the Washington Post on the basis of recent events. More than 1,100 Americans participated in this survey. The result of the survey showed that ninety-two percent of the participants were frequent Internet consumers. Seventy-nine percent of users agreed that companies do not allow them to control their own information, and sixty-four percent wanted the US government to regulate how these companies use the users' data.
According to the participants, most of the services are free, such as emails or social media applications, but they track the activities of their users and use them to target advertisements. Seventy-three percent of them believe that this tracking is unjust and should not be done, while twenty-six percent of them believe that in return for the services availed by them, this tracking is justified. Those remaining had no view to be shared by them.
The advertisements are the major source of money being generated by these applications. However, sixty-six percent of them find these advertisements irrelevant. A massive eighty-two percent of them are annoyed by the ads, while seventy-four percent of them believe that these advertisements are invading their privacy.
In terms of trusting different applications or companies, Amazon was at the top with fifty-three percent of users, followed by Google, with both Microsoft and Apple on the third place. On the other hand, Facebook became the most distrusted application with seventy-two percent of the participants, followed by TikTok with sixty-three percent and Instagram with sixty percent of users not trusting it. Applications such as WhatsApp and YouTube were found to be distrusted by fifty-three percent of the participants.
The reason why Facebook keeps getting highlighted in the news every month could be because of the data policies it adopts. Facebook is also accused of keeping its profit prioritized despite the problems arising from the algorithm used by the application. It was also claimed by Frances Haugen that Facebook, despite knowing about the negative influence on teens, still did not take any action to prevent it.
On the other hand, tech giants such as Apple and Amazon are on the good list as these companies have been found to keep their users’ data as the top priority and have also faced complications from these actions.
With all the hearings going on, it can be expected that soon a verdict will be announced on regulatory policies. It is still unknown what the verdict could be, but the tech giants are going to face it in a matter of time. And as for the users, they already take measures to prevent their data from being tracked. These measures include the use of VPNs or erasing the search history.
Read next: How cybercrimes are expected to increase in the coming year of 2022, and will big tech giants be able to prevent it?
A survey was conducted last month by the Washington Post on the basis of recent events. More than 1,100 Americans participated in this survey. The result of the survey showed that ninety-two percent of the participants were frequent Internet consumers. Seventy-nine percent of users agreed that companies do not allow them to control their own information, and sixty-four percent wanted the US government to regulate how these companies use the users' data.
According to the participants, most of the services are free, such as emails or social media applications, but they track the activities of their users and use them to target advertisements. Seventy-three percent of them believe that this tracking is unjust and should not be done, while twenty-six percent of them believe that in return for the services availed by them, this tracking is justified. Those remaining had no view to be shared by them.
The advertisements are the major source of money being generated by these applications. However, sixty-six percent of them find these advertisements irrelevant. A massive eighty-two percent of them are annoyed by the ads, while seventy-four percent of them believe that these advertisements are invading their privacy.
In terms of trusting different applications or companies, Amazon was at the top with fifty-three percent of users, followed by Google, with both Microsoft and Apple on the third place. On the other hand, Facebook became the most distrusted application with seventy-two percent of the participants, followed by TikTok with sixty-three percent and Instagram with sixty percent of users not trusting it. Applications such as WhatsApp and YouTube were found to be distrusted by fifty-three percent of the participants.
The reason why Facebook keeps getting highlighted in the news every month could be because of the data policies it adopts. Facebook is also accused of keeping its profit prioritized despite the problems arising from the algorithm used by the application. It was also claimed by Frances Haugen that Facebook, despite knowing about the negative influence on teens, still did not take any action to prevent it.
On the other hand, tech giants such as Apple and Amazon are on the good list as these companies have been found to keep their users’ data as the top priority and have also faced complications from these actions.
With all the hearings going on, it can be expected that soon a verdict will be announced on regulatory policies. It is still unknown what the verdict could be, but the tech giants are going to face it in a matter of time. And as for the users, they already take measures to prevent their data from being tracked. These measures include the use of VPNs or erasing the search history.
Read next: How cybercrimes are expected to increase in the coming year of 2022, and will big tech giants be able to prevent it?